Monday, October 5, 2009

Shute the messenger

A date for the diary-14th October at the Iron Duke Hotel in Alexandria where ex-detective,some say "disgraced"-Roger Rogerson will launch his autobiography The Dark Side.

For those who have led a sheltered life the Iron Duke is the former favoured drinking den and gathering spot of hard men who robbed banks, hit men who would knock off a rival for a few grand and the odd policemen who were there "seeking out informants" as they put it. (that's cop speak for picking up brown paper bags ).

Look it up in your street directory-it's not too far from the Chippendale lane where Rogerson shot dead drug dealer Warren Lanfranchi. Rogerson isn't too keen on the media. He reckons they exagerate to the point where "all the public knows about me, I think, was that I was a corrupt cop, shot three men and was a drinking mate of Neddy Smith,''.

As seen in the dramatized ABC series of his life Blue Murder (which couldn't be screened in NSW because of legal technicalities) Rogerson, errr..shot 3 men, was convicted of corruption and was a drinking buddy of Neddy "Stan The Man" Smith. Smith is currently serving a few life terms for murdering a hapless motorist in a rage road incident and the murder of Lanfranchi's girlfriend Sally AnnHuckstep whose lifeless body was found floating in a lake in Centennial Park. Rogerson spent 5 years in jail in a special wing reserved for bent cops.

Rogerson wasn't too happy either with actor Richard Roxburgh's ( with 2 films soon to be released -Ice and Matching Jack) portrayal of him in Blue Murder. "He made out I was a chain-smoking cold bloodedkiller" complains Roger, "I'm warm hearted and I don't smoke much". Roxburgh in Blue Murder

We'll be there with bells on. Oh, and Shute the Messenger ?. That's the name of Rogerson's PR company. Most amusing .